There are several options available for marketing a photography business online, and the majority of businesses desire to rank on top of Google to take advantage of the plethora of organic traffic available. While Google Ads and Facebook ads are great, there is a cost-per-click associated with every visitor that clicks over to your photography website.
Ranking on the top of Google Maps requires an aggressive SEO strategy to achieve and maintain that ranking, but overall the cost for highly targeted traffic is much lower. When you occupy a top listing position your business is found by local consumers who are actively looking to hire a photographer – and available for discovery 24/7.
The key to ranking on top of the local search results is your Google My Business profile. It’s Google’s free-to-claim local business directory listing, and there is a good chance your photography business already has claimed it. There is also a very good chance that it’s not optimized properly to get you the most exposure in the local search results.
When you know how to optimize your profile for search as well as for converting prospects into booked photoshoots, it becomes your most valuable photography marketing asset aside from your website.
To help you move up in the local search results and drive more leads and photography bookings, here are some Google My Business optimization tips that you can get started on immediately. Follow these suggestions and watch how much more traffic, interest, and bookings your GMB profile becomes responsible for.
Create Contact Details Understanding Consumer Search Behavior
Your Google My Business profile allows you to enter the business hours of your photography business. You can enter standard hours of operation for Monday through Friday and then mark your business as being closed on the weekends as most do, or you can set it to open 24 hours.
If your business operates out of a professional studio that accepts walk-ins then you will want to input correct hours of operation, but if you are a freelancer or work out of your house or a co-working space, select the “open 24 hours” option.
A lot of searches occur after hours and in the evening when many businesses are technically closed. If a consumer is looking at the local search results late in the evening and every location that is shown in Google Maps is marked as closed except yours, guess where that individual’s attention is going to be drawn towards? Your business – that’s displayed as being open.
This is such a simple little optimization hack that can drive a lot of attention to your listing, which then pushes those prospects to your website. Little changes like this take a minute to implement, yet can have a huge impact on your SEO results.
Include a Direct Booking Option
Different photography services will require different levels of discussions, meetings, etc. For example, if your photography business offers a professional headshot service many consumers would book that online and schedule an appointment without speaking to you first. It’s a simple process and there is little to no creative direction discussion – it’s a headshot.
On the other hand, if your specialty is wedding photography, that’s an entirely different situation. This will often require lengthy discussions about the location, the style of photography, different packages, etc.
If someone is looking to hire a wedding photographer they are going to visit the Google listing and if the profile does its job, the consumer is going to then visit the photographer’s website. From there they will reach out to discuss their needs in greater detail.
To attract the smaller jobs, be sure to include a booking link – you can easily set up Calendly for free – and allow customers to select a time on their own. This is a low-pressure option that will help you book more of the quicker-style photography jobs.
Think of Your Logo as Your Company’s First Impression
Your business has a logo and you need to include it on your Google My Business profile, but don’t just upload it as it is. Doing so can create a very unprofessional image for your photography business.
GMB profile photos need to be square – think 500 x 500 pixels – and you may need to alter your logo for the best presentation. A text-based logo will be very hard to read if the majority of the logo is blank space due to the small text font.
In this situation, it would make sense to split the text into two lines and increase the font size so your logo pops and commands attention. If your logo is a light image then don’t put it against a light background color. Use a background color that helps your logo stand out.
These are simple branding fundamentals but you would be surprised at how many profiles we audit while working on photography marketing campaigns that don’t consider simple things like their logo.
Highlight Your Photography Company’s Best Work in the Photo Section
Your Google My Business profile allows you to upload a cover image as well as multiple photo categories. This helps to give your brand a real-life human element.
Aside from your cover image, Google classifies all other images as “Business photos,” and these categories include the following:
- Exterior photos
- Interior photos
- Product photos
- Photos at work
- Food & drink photos
- Common areas
- Rooms
- Team photos
Now, even though not all categories will fit your business, it’s in the best interest of your photography marketing strategy to take advantage of every image slot. Use this to highlight your photography skills. Include professional headshots of your staff. Take beautiful photos of your workspace and studio. For the product photo section, include produce photos you have taken. Let your creativity shine. Google is allowing you to showcase your talent – take full advantage of it.
Optimize Your Description for the Main Photography Keyword Your Want to Rank for in Google Maps
The character limit Google provides for your description is very limited, with only 750 characters – spaces included – to describe your photography business to prospective customers. You need to highlight your company’s skills while showcasing your personality and do it in a way that incorporates your main keyword to help your listing’s visibility within the local search results.
It’s a good idea to optimize for your most popular service – the one that makes your business the most money. If you are a wedding photographer located in Seattle, then “Seattle wedding photographer” is going to be the term you will want to optimize for.
A photography studio in Atlanta that specializes in portraits will want to target “Atlanta portrait photographer” as their main term. With such limited space, you need to focus on one keyword to properly optimize the profile.
Attempting to rank for several will often spread your content too thin, making it too broad, which won’t help you rank at all. Use your main keyword at the beginning of the description and sprinkle it in naturally throughout, while also including several variants.
So, if your main keyword is “Seattle wedding photographer,” keywords like “wedding photographer in Seattle” and “hire a wedding photographer in Seattle” are examples of good variants to include in your description.
Final Thoughts
Marketing your photography business on Google is something you simply cannot ignore. If you want to attract local customers you have to be found on the top of the search results for keywords related to the photography services you provide and the local areas your service.
The first step to being found in Google Maps is having a Google My Business profile for the algorithm to pull your photography company’s information from. Then, you have to optimize your profile for the best possible results.
Following the tips laid out above will help you optimize your GMB listing for the best exposure organically. If you have questions related to optimizing your listing or any photography marketing questions in general, please contact us and we will be more than happy to help.
We are a full-service photography marketing agency that specializes in helping local photographers generate more leads and photoshoot bookings through a wide variety of online marketing strategies.
See More Helpful Tips